This invention relates to an articulated trigger/cover unit for a pump dispenser. More specifically, this invention relates to a modification of the trigger/cover unit to assure that the hinged parts are reliably held in a given configuration during assembly of the pump by automatic assembly equipment.
A pump dispenser of the type referred to above is thoroughly disclosed in the PCT patent application PCT/EP98/05554 which was published Mar. 11, 1999 and the national phase U.S. application Ser. No. 09/486,87 filed Mar. 2, 2000. The pump is structured so that the top surface is flat when the trigger is in repose, making the pump easy to handle and convey in assembly and to store. When the trigger is pulled, the short drive arm of the trigger humps up with the cover, moving the piston into the cylinder and increasing the height of the pivot to improve the angle between the piston and the trigger arm. This makes the pump easy to operate.
This invention relates to a modification of the trigger/cover unit which facilitates the assembly of the pump dispenser by automatic assembly equipment. More specifically, by the modification, the trigger/cover unit is reliably held in a predetermined shapexe2x80x94instead of a flopping, unpredictable shapexe2x80x94one unit to the next, and automatic assembly equipment is able to handle it.
The invention is, of course, defined in the claims. In summary, the invention is a trigger/cover unit of a pump dispenser as described modified to include retainers on proximate or contiguous relatively moving surfaces so that the retainers hold the trigger portion and the cover portion in the desired attitude in preparation for assembly.